


Second Chances

by Lady Divine (fhartz91)



Series: Outside Edge [6]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Ice Skating, M/M, Mentions of Cancer, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-03 22:22:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10976553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fhartz91/pseuds/Lady%20Divine
Summary: For the first time in Kurt and Sebastian's relationship, Sebastian gets to have a little one and one time ... with Kurt's mother.





	Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> This was another part of the story that came a little further in the future than the immediate end of the story, so I'm uploading it as a one-shot. It's basically just to let everyone know that no matter how angsty things get in the story, everything turns out all right in the end.

“Oh, o-okay … whoa, now … WHOA!”

“Am I going too fast?”

“No, I just … can we make the ice less slippery or something?”

“You’re doing great, Mom,” Kurt says, holding his mother’s hands as he leads a wobbly-kneed Elizabeth Hummel around the ice. Her legs inch slowly out to the sides, her toes pointing in at one another, and she slides to a stop. Kurt pulls. Her body moves forward, but not her skates, her toe picks catching on a perpendicular cut in the ice that keeps her from going any farther.

“Uh, Kurt … I think I’m stuck.”

“I think you are, too.”

Elizabeth throws her head back and laughs as Kurt maneuvers to her right side to help her over.

“Ha-ha! I can’t believe I’m doing this!”

“I always believed you could,” Kurt says, gingerly lifting her up and onto the flat of her blades. It takes him no effort at all, heartbreakingly hard for him to comprehend that a grown woman can feel so light. “You’ll be doing double-axels again in no time. You watch.”

Elizabeth shakes her head, her thin fingers clutching on to her son’s shoulders for dear life. “You have far more faith in me than I deserve, honey.”

“Mom, you’ve been done with chemo for how long and you’re already back in skates?”

“That’s because I’m insane.”

“Maybe,” he agrees, taking hold of her hands again, “but you didn’t think you’d be able to stand for longer than a minute, and you’re already doing so much better than the kids in my pre-alpha class.”

Elizabeth looks at her son, a nostalgic smile lifting her lips at the handsome, talented young man he’s become, with her blue eyes, but otherwise so much like his father. She risks letting go of one hand to press her gloved palm to his cheek. “That’s because I have an excellent teacher.”

He takes her hand and kisses it, eyes shimmering with tears that have been lingering there for months.

“Are you guys talking about me again?” Sebastian asks, sliding to a T-stop at Kurt’s side. “Because it’s just getting embarrassing now.”

“Hey, Bas.” Kurt leans left, accepting a kiss on the cheek. Kurt doesn’t really do PDA, especially not in front of his mother. But the last few months of adjusting to his mom being out of the hospital – the excitement of her being in remission, the anxiety of not knowing whether or not her cancer will come back again, her complicated medication schedule, the list of approved and unapproved foods … He skates to remove himself from the ache in his chest that comes with helping care for his mother, and he screams silently behind his smiles when it gets to be too much. The only person he tells any of this to is his boyfriend. And Sebastian has come through for him, his pillar of strength when things get tough. So Kurt will accept all of the hugs and kisses from his boyfriend he can get, whenever he can get them

“Hey, Sebastian,” Elizabeth says. “No coaching today? Or are you just over here annoying my son?”

“A little bit of both. Stick time isn’t for another half-hour on the South Rink so I thought I’d join you guys.”

“Well, we’re glad to have you.” Elizabeth beams as she slides by him at a snail’s pace. “We need one more set of arms to catch me when I fall.”

“You haven’t fallen yet,” Kurt reminds her.

“That doesn’t mean I won’t,” she sings. “Even at my best, I think I landed my jumps on my butt more than I did my feet.”

“Ouch.” Sebastian chuckles. “And yet, you still won a gold medal.”

“Meh. They were giving them out like Pez back then. I think the guy who drove the Zamboni got one.”

“ _Mom_ …” Kurt says, scolding his mother for being unnecessarily self-deprecating. Her doctor told him that one of the most important things he could do for his mother is to keep her upbeat. The road to recovery is hard. She can’t expect to be back at 100% right away – even if that 100% was actually closer to 75% before the chemo. So no insulting herself, and no bringing herself down.

Some days, that’s easier said than done.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” she says, sweeping non-existent hair off her shoulders with a cocky shake of her head. “I’m _amazing_.”

“Hey, Kurt! Can I talk to you a sec?”

Kurt looks over his shoulder at Jane, waving at him from the far side of the rink.

“Can it wait?” he asks. “I’m kinda busy.”

“One of the boys in your alpha class wants to take private lessons. His parents say he asked for you specifically.”

Kurt looks past Jane’s shoulder out the glass and sees two people he recognizes as Barry Severson’s mom and dad, smiling at him and waving like he’s some sort of super star. Well, in this small pond, he kind of is. Admittedly, he’s wanted to be for a while. Some days, he can’t believe he did it. He fought and conquered; got the throne _and_ the guy. Someday he’ll find a way to sell the movie rights to his story.

Maybe they can get Sterling Beaumon to play him.

“Okay,” he says. “Just give me one second.”

Kurt turns back to his mom, grinning at him with a pride that’s almost painful to look at. Kurt thought his mom wouldn’t live to see him win a medal. And now, here he was with a handful in his trophy case, along with students of his own earning medals, and he’s not even in college yet.

But it wouldn’t have mattered to Elizabeth Hummel if her son was a street sweeper, as long as he was a happy street sweeper.

“I can take care of your mom for a little bit,” Sebastian offers, already reaching out to take her hands. “Unless you’d rather sit, Mrs. Hummel.”

Elizabeth looks from her son to his boyfriend with a sly grin on her face. “No, I think I’d like to keep skating, thank you. You go, honey. Sebastian can take care of me.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back.” Kurt gives her a peck on the cheek, then turns to Sebastian and points a finger in his face. “Don’t you dare let her fall!”

“Really, Kurt? I’m surprised at your lack of faith in me.”

Kurt stares at Sebastian, sees genuine hurt in his eyes, and sighs. “You’re right. I’m sorry,” he says, shelving a sarcastic remark because, in reality, the only other person he would trust on the ice with his mother beside himself is Sebastian. Sebastian knows how important Kurt’s mother is to him.

He might play the fool sometimes, but he’s also a responsible, compassionate person when it counts.

He’ll do everything in his power to keep her safe.

Kurt hands his mother off. He glides backward a few feet, watching to ensure that Sebastian has everything under control, then changes face and heads off the ice.

Sebastian watches his boyfriend go, increasingly aware that he is now alone on the ice with Elizabeth Hummel, cancer survivor and one of the most important people in Kurt’s life. Sebastian turns his attention to her, who's looking up at him still with that sly grin on her face.

“Well,” he says, feeling awkward without Kurt there to act as a buffer between them. “Did you want to keep going around? Or did you want to go across?”

“Oh, I don’t think I’m brave enough to go across just yet,” Elizabeth says. “My eyes haven’t adjusted to all the white ice.”

“Okay. We’ll just continue the way you guys were going then.”

“Yes, please.”

Sebastian holds her hands gently in his and starts backwards. Sebastian didn’t know Kurt’s mom before they started dating. Elizabeth Hummel only started accompanying her son to practices when her oncologist transferred her to a hospital nearby for treatment. She seems smaller not wrapped in the heavy blankets and jackets she brought with her to wear when she sat in the penalty box. Her hands, stuffed inside fluffy, red-knitted gloves, feel frail inside his, and he’s afraid that if he squeezes too hard, he might break something. Suddenly, he’s way more anxious being in charge of her than he was before.

He starts wondering if this is how Kurt feels when he’s with her.

“You know, this is the first time that you and I have gotten to spend a moment alone together,” Elizabeth says.

“Yes, it is,” Sebastian replies, with a forced smile because he has no clue what to say.

“I didn’t think you guys were going to make it at first. You had such a rocky start … then a rocky middle ...” Elizabeth teases Sebastian the same way Kurt does, with a tilt of her head and an innocent roll of her eyes. Sebastian would normally laugh, but he has too much pent up regret in his stomach to allow that.

“I know,” he says. “And I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am.”

“Well, Kurt’s forgiven you, so I guess I can forgive you, too - bygones be bygones and all that jazz. Besides, it’s not _me_ you have to worry about.” Her lips draw tight, but her eyes still laugh.

Sebastian swallows hard. For a second, the ice tilts beneath him, then it pops back into place too quickly. “S-so I’ve been told.”

Elizabeth savors the shade of pale her son’s boyfriend becomes, but she can’t hold on to her stern expression too long. She sputters a laugh. It comes out wicked, even though it isn’t meant to be. “Don’t you worry about Kurt’s dad. He just wants what’s best for his son. There were a few months there where he thought he would end up being a single father, and he was scared. But since I’m still around, I’ll put in a good word for you.” It’s morbidly easy the way she says it, as if she didn’t just mention the possibility of her own death and then dismiss it in the same breath. She must have thought about it a lot, Sebastian figures, if she can be so offhanded about it.

“I’d appreciate that,” Sebastian says with a hard lump in his throat. He feels himself tearing up and fights against it, but Elizabeth notices, especially after Sebastian sniffs and looks away.

“Oh, Sebastian.” She pulls herself closer as Sebastian slows to a stop. “I’m sorry. I’m not trying to bring down the heavy or anything.”

“It’s not that. It’s just … sometimes I think about how things were before Kurt and I started going out, how I used to treat him, not knowing about the things going on in his life, and I kind of can’t help hating myself.”

“Honey” – Elizabeth puts a hand on his shoulder and squeezes, offering comfort, but the lack of strength in her fingers does the opposite. It reminds Sebastian of what an incredible asshole he was while Kurt thought his mother was going to die – “you didn’t know.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t need to to know not to be mean to him. And, to be honest, had I known, I probably would have still been mean to him because the only thing that mattered at the time was getting ahead.”

“Well, is that the only thing that matters now?”

Sebastian shakes his head glumly. “No, it’s not.”

“Then I would say you learned a valuable lesson, wouldn’t you?” Elizabeth attempts to give Sebastian a playful punch on the shoulder. He has to lean in to it when she fails to reach his arm.

“Yeah. Yeah, I would.”

“Plus, it came with a pretty awesome ending, if I do say so myself.” Elizabeth’s gaze travels past Sebastian to the opposite side of the rink, where Kurt is saying his goodbyes to the Seversons and re-entering the ice. Sebastian watches him, bright smile aimed their way as he speeds over, and he can’t stop smiling back. Kurt’s smile has that effect on him.

 _Kurt_ has that effect on him.

“On your right, Smythe!”

Sebastian hears the boys coming before he sees them - two hockey players trying to force one another into the wall. A dodge and spin turns into one boy hitting it head on, and the other sliding to a stop too close for comfort. Sebastian jumps on instinct to avoid a hit, remembering Kurt’s mom at the last second. At their close proximity, he manages to grab her around the middle and move her out of the way, but he underestimates her weight. It throws him off-balance, sending him toppling backward. He lands on his back with Kurt’s mother squarely, and _safely_ , on top of him.

“Mom!” Kurt yells, putting on speed.

Elizabeth giggles, face and eyes glowing as she reaches out for her son. “I told you I was going to fall.”

“Are you alright!?” But even with cheeks burning red, Kurt laughs through his worry. His mother looks positively joyful, struggling to get up off Sebastian’s stomach.

“Yeah, baby. It’s all good. Your boyfriend broke my fall.”

“Yup,” Sebastian groans. “Along with my spine.”  

“I guess he couldn’t hold all 130 pounds of me, huh?”

“Mom” – Kurt grabs his mother’s arms at the elbows and helps her up – “there’s no way you’re 130 yet.”

“Believe me,” Sebastian grumbles, waiting for Elizabeth to stand before he tries to move, “I think she might be.”

 

 


End file.
